Police dispatch tapes provide chilling details about the last moments of a Berkeley hills resident bludgeoned to death with a ceramic pot and officers' inability to respond to his earlier call about an intruder because law enforcement officials had given priority to handling a small Occupy Oakland march.

In the 15 minutes between when Peter Cukor called a nonemergency line to report finding the intruder in his garage and the time his wife phoned 911 to say he was being attacked, dispatchers never alerted officers over the radio that Cukor needed help, the tapes show.

Cukor, 67, a business-management consultant, had encountered 23-year-old Daniel Jordan DeWitt in his garage on Park Gate just west of Tilden Park and called Berkeley police about 8:45 p.m. Feb. 18, authorities said.

When Cukor told him twice to leave, DeWitt responded that he was looking for his fiancee, a woman named Zoey. DeWitt's family has said the woman does not exist and that he was diagnosed five years ago with paranoid schizophrenia.

At about 8:57 p.m., Officer Jerome Cobert noticed Cukor's initial nonemergency report on his police-cruiser computer while driving on Shattuck Avenue, about 2 miles away, sources said. He volunteered over the radio to respond either to that call or another one reporting a suspicious person.

Dispatchers had never put out the call over the radio because the department was keeping officers on standby for an Occupy Oakland march heading toward UC Berkeley.

So a dispatcher told Cobert, "At this point, I've been advised not to have Team 3 respond to anything unless it's a priority 1 in progress," referring to life-threatening emergencies and felonies in progress.

Cobert replied, "10-4."

About 9 p.m., the dispatcher reported on the air that Cukor's wife, Andrea, had called 911 to say that "the subject is now attacking her husband." The dispatcher provided DeWitt's description and noted that the suspect was "at one point standing there, looking for someone who does not live there."

At that point, numerous officers sped to the home with lights and sirens on. As that was happening, a dispatcher told a police lieutenant on a secondary channel at 9:03 p.m. that the Occupy group "is on the move" but "no crowd size given."

At 9:04 p.m., the primary dispatcher told officers that Andrea Cukor could see her husband's body in the driveway and that she had locked herself in her home.

Four minutes later, Officer Erik Keene radioed that he had found Peter Cukor, who had only a "faint pulse." Keene said he was trying to keep Cukor's air passages clear.

Police say DeWitt had hit Cukor in the head with a ceramic flower pot. Cukor died that night at Highland Hospital in Oakland.

At 9:22 p.m., an officer told the dispatcher that DeWitt had been found near the home and was being held at gunpoint. Two minutes earlier, a dispatcher told the lieutenant on the secondary channel how large the Occupy march was: 50 people, according to Oakland police.

DeWitt was arrested without incident. Criminal proceedings against him are on hold pending a psychiatric evaluation.

Police Chief Michael Meehan has said the department is reviewing what happened to "ensure everything possible was done to properly respond to this tragic event."

City Councilwoman Susan Wengraf, who has asked police for a detailed timeline of their response, has called for a town hall meeting to discuss the incident. It will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley.